House



(No Model.)

H. H.- WESTINGHOUSE. AUTOMATIC} LUBRIOATOR FOR STEAM ENGINES.No.246,258. I Patented Aug. 23,1881.

gmpher. Waxhmglon. u. c.

TINTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

H. HERMAN WESTINGHOUSE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE\VESTINGHOUSE MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

AUTOMATIC LUBRICATOR FOR STEAM-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 246,258, dated August23, 1881.

' Application filed June 18, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, H. HERMAN WEs'rING-HOUSE, of Pittsburg, county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented or discovered a new and usefullmprovementin AutomaticLubricator for Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, concise, and exact description thereof, referencebeing bad to the aecom pan yin g draw- .10 ings, making a part of thisspecification, in which-like letters indicating like parts Figure l-is aside elevation, partly in section, illustrative of my present invention.Fig. 2 is'a longitudinal sectional view to an enlarged scale of thecrank-arm, pitman, or connecting rod employed between the crank-shaftand the piston, and by the action of which the lubricant in the tank ispumped or forced up to lubricate the upper or piston bearing. Fig. 3 isa face View, and Fig. 4-is a sectional view, of a modified form ofoil-inlet valve to be used on the lower end of the connecting-rod.

In Letters Patent No. 240,482, granted to me April 10, 1881, I describeda single-acting 2 double-cylinder upright engine particularly designedfor running at high speed, and in connection therewith I showed animproved oiling device by which automatically to keep the bearin gsproperly lubricated at both ends of the connecting-rod or pitman; butsuch feature of invention was reserved for the present application.Here, as there, A A represent two upright steam-cylinders, arranged sideby sideand at such distance apart as to makerooiniorpartially-interposedvalve'chamber V. The inside fittings, valves, pistons, and portsemployed may be such as are described in said patent or otherwise, asmay be preferred and for illustrating the-present in- 0 vention 1 havedeemed it necessary to show only one cylinder in section, with itspiston and a portion of the oil tank or receptacle Y immediately below.This tank is to contain at all times sufficient liquid lubricatingmaterial, so that at each downstroke of the crank w it will be immersedto such depth as may be necessary to effect thereby theproperlubrication thereof, and also pump up into the hollowconnecting-rod R a sufficient quantity to lubri- 5o cate the pin 4' orother hearing by which it is connected with the piston P; but in orderthat this latter function may be performed I make the connecting-rodwith a tubular passage, d, extending up through or along it, and with aport or open communication, a, at its upper end to the upper or pistonhearing. The pump-tubed thus made passes around beneath the crank-pin inthe direction in which the lower end of the connecting-rod moves on thedownstroke while the engine is in motion,and at its lower forward end Imake an inlet-port,

c, and arrange thereon or therein an inwardlyopening valve, 0, of anysuitable construction. Then, as the lower end of each connecting-rod onits downstroke enters the oil in the tank and moves forward therein, theinertia of the oil in which it moves will open the valve 0, and a smallquantityof oil will enter the tubular passage 01 through the port 0, andby the closing of the valve as the rod rises out of the oil in the tankthe oil so forced into (I will be retained. By successive strokes thepassage (I will gradually be filled and kept full,

so that the oil, being forced through the port or opening a, will keepthe upper bearing properly oiled, and the lower hearing may be keptlubricated in the same way by a supply from the same oil-column throughports a; but I do not consider'itnecessary that a valve be used on theport 0. As illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, such port may have surroundingwalls which flare outwardly, so that by or as a result of their outwardconvergence more oil will be forced in through the port 0 so formedwhile passing through the oil than will flow out during the residue ofits stroke or motion. Nor do I limit myself to any particular form orcon struction of port or valve or tubular passage, provided only that ahollow or tubular passage ported at both ends, at its lower end dipoping into the oil at each dowustroke and at its upper end opening to theupper hearing, be arranged in, on, or in connection with theconnecting-rod and piston, so as to move therewith. For example, aseparate pump-tube, opening by a suitable port at its upper end to theupper bearing, and provided with an ordinary pump-valve, its lower endopen, playing in a supply-barrel arranged in the tank, and the tubebeing so connected with the piston as to be operated up and downthereby, may be substituted for the device described,

with a substantiallylike operation. Each downstroke will then tend toforce the oil into the tube and up to the upper bearing, and on themaking of an upstroke the supply-barrel will be refilled or replenished;and such means for automatically securing or effecting lubrication maybe applied to engines generally, and to the valve-eccentrics and valvesas well as to the pistons and cranks, and all such uses andmodifications, as also mechanical equivalents and substitutes, areincluded herein; but separate applications will be made for specialfeatures of construction.

In the use of engines of this class I have discovered that the oil isdashed into a spray and up against and (if the piston be open below, asit sometimes must be) into the piston, so as to keep it at a lowtemperature, and thereby increase the loss by condensation of steam. Toguard against this result I make the piston with an inside lining, suchsomewhat as would be formed by a ladys small sewing-thimble insertedinside a large one. The cap or closed end of such thimble-lining isrepresented at s and the side walls at s, and a chamber, 5 is thusformed between the thimble-lining and the main pistonshell. The annularspace at the lower end of the chamber 8 is to be closed up, as at 8 soas to prevent the oil from being spattered up against the inside of thepiston proper. The lower end of the thimble-lining s is to be made largeenough for the connecting-rod R to have its proper motions therein, andthe connectingpin 0 may pass through the upper end of the thimble-liningas well as through the piston proper. Believing a piston of thisconstruction to be new, and understanding it to belong to a differentclass of invention, (under Patent Oflice classification,) I do not claimit herein except in combination with means of lubrication, as set forth.A. claim for the piston independent of lubricating devices is reservedfor an application yet to be filed.

I am aware that a hollow connecting-rod having an oil-supply chamber inthe body of the rod, intermediate between its ends, and with a wick inthe hollow of the rod leading from the oil-supply chamber to the endbear ings, is not new; but my invention difl'ers radically from this,among other respects, in the fact that my tube or connecting-rod,operating in combination with a separate or independent oil supply,involves to a greater or less extent the principle of a force-pump,whereby the oil is forced up and along the tube or connectingrod fromthe tank to the upper bearing instead of being raised by capillaryattraction from an oil-supply, which is made as a part of and moves withit.

I claim herein as my invention- 1. A tubular connectingrod having anoiliulet port and an oil-exit port or ports leading to the upper orlower hearings, or both in combination with a stationary oil-tank, Y,substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with a separate or independent oil-tank, Y, aconnecting-rod having a tubular passage in, on, or in connection withit, so as to have a simultaneous motion, such passage extending from anoil-inlet port atits lower end to a port or opening at its upper end,through which to lubricate the upper bearing, substantially as setforth.

3. The method of lubricating a moving bearing which is above the levelof the oil-supply by causing the port of a passage which extends fromsuch elevated bearing to a fixed or independent oil-snpply to passthrough or into such oil-supply, in manner substantially as described,whereby to force a portion of the oil through such port, substantiallyas set forth.

4. The connectingrod R, having in combination the passage (1, ports a c,and a suitable inwardly-openingvalve on the lower port, substantially asset forth.

5. The piston I having a thimble-lining, s s, in combination, by ahollow ported connecting-rod, with oiltank Y, substantially as setforth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

H. HERMAN \VESTINGHOUSE.

\Vitnesses:

It. H. WHrr'rLEsnY, G. H. UHRIS'IY.

